While stadium maintenance officials and police said this morning they have seen the Mission Valley landmark left in a worse state after other events, they said the 21,000 temporary bleacher seats added for Super Bowl XXII helped generate a considerable amount of in-house refuse.

Under the bleachers and fixed seats were the familiar postevent trappings of civilization.

The most commonly seen non-food discards were large orange cardboard figures in the shape of a hand with raised index finger indicating No. 1 and reading "Crush the Skins."

They probably were shed by Denver Bronco fans after the second quarter of the game. Two quarters later, the Washington Redskins had crushed the Broncos 42-10.

Few signs supporting the Redskins were left.

The most trashed and damaged areas of the stadium were the men's restrooms.

"They're always the worst," said Don Phillips, stadium maintenance supervisor. "That's where intoxicated men go in and take out their frustrations and vengeance if their team is losing. That's where the most damage is done, and where a lot of trash is left."

Overall, however, it wasn't that bad, he said. "We had people working during the game, picking stuff up."

Outside the stadium, sweeping machines gobbled up more litter.

Police and stadium security officers said the stadium and lot were left in far worse shape after the Rolling Stones rock concert eight years ago.

Before and after that event, thousands of mostly young spectators camped out in the lot for 24 hours before the concert and were allowed to occupy the playing field, where they discarded mountains of garbage.

Phillips said 10 city maintenance workers and 20 to 30 people from a private janitorial service will work eight hours a day for a week or two to clean the stadium and parking lot. The stadium has its own trash compactors and dumpsters.

Phillips said vigorous cleanup did not have to begin until today because the next stadium event is several weeks away.

"There's no rush," he said. "If we had back-to-back events, we would have started immediately after the game ended."

Before yesterday's game, the cleanliness of the stadium was noticed by NFL officials.

"They said San Diego has the cleanest and best-maintained stadium they have ever seen," Phillips said. "They couldn't believe the stadium is 20 years old."